Maker: Caroline Speight Moore

Panel number: 173

Petition Sheet Number: 209

Person honouring: Rose Hall

Relationship to makers: Great great grandmother

Rose’s signature is on sheet 209 and the women on that sheet are from Hororata or the surrounding area. Some are the wives of men working for Rose’s husband, John Hall. Rose and her daughter Mildred travelled around this rural district collecting signatures for the petition. 

Rose had married John Hall in 1861 in England and they travelled to Lyttelton on the ‘Royal Stuart’. John was involved with the political life of New Zealand from 1853-1893 and was Premier from 1879-1882. He was the parliamentary advocate for the women’s suffrage movement and moved the bill that gave women the vote in 1893. 

The 280 metre-long petition was rolled down the aisle of the Debating Chamber. Rose lived with their children in Christchurch, in Wellington or on their farm, Rakaia Terrace Station. The buttons on the panel represent Godfrey Dryden who died in infancy, Mildred, Wilfred, John Dryden, Mary and Godfrey. Rose, like so many women of that time did needlework and the knitting on the panel has 46 stars to represent the other women who signed sheet 209. Terrace Station is now a charitable trust, open to visitors. The snowdrops on the panel represent the thousands of snowdrops and bluebells carpeting the garden each spring. Letters to Grace, Writing Home from colonial New Zealand, contains letters written by Rose,1861-1876. By His Own Merits, Sir John Hall - Pioneer, Pastoralist & Premier, is the biography of John Hall.

Panel materials: All fabric/yarn I had at home. Embroidery fabric, an old afternoon tea napkin, knitting yarn, old family buttons, tassels from Vinnie’s collection.